PATHANAMTHITTA: Ranjitha Gopkumaran Nair (39), a nurse from Pullad, Pathanamthitta, is among the victims of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Her name was confirmed on the 242-passenger list of the ill-fated flight, operating from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick airport. The family later received official confirmation of her death.
At home, her elderly mother Thulasi and two young children--Induchoodan and Ithika, were devastated by the tragic news.
Ranjitha, who had worked as a nurse in Salalah, Oman, and later in the UK, was on the cusp of fulfilling her life's aspirations.
As the tragic news was confirmed by the District Administration around 4:30 p.m., a large number of mourners gathered at her ancestral home in Vadakkekavala, braving the rain to pay their respects.
Ranjitha had been working in the United Kingdom for the past eight months and returned to India recently to finalise formalities for a government job she had secured in Kerala. She had planned to begin her new position and move into her nearly completed house in Pullad by July.
"Ranjitha's visit home was meant to be brief. After completing the paperwork for her government job, she returned to the UK to conclude her formalities. Tragically, her journey back ended in disaster," said Aneesh Varikkannamala, a local Congress leader and close associate of the family.
She left for the UK on Wednesday afternoon. Her travel itinerary included a train journey from Thiruvalla to Nedumbassery, flights to Chennai and Ahmedabad, and a connecting flight to London, which tragically crashed.
Neighbours recall her plan to settle down in her hometown and live with her children and her mother, and move into her nearly completed house in Pullad by July.
The youngest daughter of the Gopakumaran Nair-Thulasi couple, Ranjitha, pursued graduation in nursing at Pandalam and began her nursing career at a hospital in Gujarat. She later worked in Oman before moving to the UK last year. In between, she had secured a government position at Pathanamthitta General Hospital five years ago and was on long leave while working abroad. She had also been constructing a new house near her ancestral home and was planning to soon move into the new house.
Ranjitha is survived by her two children. Her son is a Class 10 student and her daughter who is in Class 7. She also has two elder brothers, both employed overseas.